How many processes is too many?

[roguerower]

Just installed vista this weekend and looking at my task manager I wanted to know how many processes was too many? I show about 90 on avg with all of my background programs running. I'm running an E8400 w/ 4gb of ram so it isn't a big deal atm.

Running programs: Aim, Azureus, Skype, Sidebar, F@H, logitech webcam/messenger/mouse, etc.

 

[Scotteq]

Best to let Vista manage itself...

 

[Markbnj]

Originally posted by: Scotteq
Best to let Vista manage itself...

In general I always agree with this advice, but the number of running processes isn't something Vista has complete control over.

OP, the number of processes isn't important really. What is important is CPU and memory utilization. Many background tasks use almost none of either. Open up task manager and check the performance tab to see how much of your RAM is used and how much is available.

Beyond those two things, the only other real impact of all those processes is the time it takes the OS to get on it's feet at startup.

 

[roguerower]

It's utilizing about 1.5gb of my ram so I've got 2gb spare and utilizing maybe 10% of both cores. My system isn't slow, it's just that I've noticed that it takes a bit of time for it to get going which isn't that bad since if I need to get on quick i can just use expressgate. Best that I can compare it to would be a locomotive...takes some time to get going but once it does, that sucka moves

 

[SunnyD]

Originally posted by: roguerower
[bIt's utilizing about 1.5gb of my ram[/b] so I've got 2gb spare and utilizing maybe 10% of both cores. My system isn't slow, it's just that I've noticed that it takes a bit of time for it to get going which isn't that bad since if I need to get on quick i can just use expressgate. Best that I can compare it to would be a locomotive...takes some time to get going but once it does, that sucka moves

It's called SuperFetch. If it's not using ALL of your ram, it's not working right.

 

[Scotteq]

Originally posted by: SunnyD

Originally posted by: roguerower
[bIt's utilizing about 1.5gb of my ram[/b] so I've got 2gb spare and utilizing maybe 10% of both cores. My system isn't slow, it's just that I've noticed that it takes a bit of time for it to get going which isn't that bad since if I need to get on quick i can just use expressgate. Best that I can compare it to would be a locomotive...takes some time to get going but once it does, that sucka moves

It's called SuperFetch. If it's not using ALL of your ram, it's not working right.

I wouldn't say "All" - Superfetch surely uses more RAM the more you have. But it doesn't use all of it. IIRC, as long as you have more than around 750MB, Superfetch wil start using space. I have 8GB of RAM (...because I *can*, that's why...) and may approach 2GB from time to time.


Regarding time for the system to get going - That should be heavily influenced by HDD I/O - Superfectch still needs to get the data from storage.


Some things you can do:

Check the Reliability Monitor (in the search box, type reliability...). It'll show any start up and program issues.

Things to speed boot time:
http://www.vistax64.com/tutori...omputer-boot-time.html

General Performance tips:
http://www.vistax64.com/tutori...performance-vista.html

Make sure the L2 cache size is set correctly: DO NOT try to "Fool" the OS on this one! But if it's set too small, it can negatively affect performance.
http://www.vistax64.com/tutori...ory-setting-vista.html

 

[lxskllr]

Originally posted by: Scotteq


I wouldn't say "All" - Superfetch surely uses more RAM the more you have. But it doesn't use all of it. IIRC, as long as you have more than around 750MB, Superfetch wil start using space. I have 8GB of RAM (...because I *can*, that's why...) and may approach 2GB from time to time.

I have 12mb free of 4gb. Look in Task Manager, and under Physical Memory check your Free amount. I bet your in the 10s of megabytes also(most memory in use)

 

[Cutthroat]

Mine:

Total: 6142 MB
Cached: 4184 MB
Free: 163 MB

Free Memory reported: 3936 MB

 

[nova2]

90 eh?

it really depends on what each process is doing.

if you want to go deep, get sysinternals process explorer (now microsoft) and check the performance tab of each process.

or just dont do much until you notice a performance problem.